Rating: B
Dir: Daniel Goldhaber
Star: Madeline Brewer, Patch Darragh, Melora Walters, Devin Druid
I’m only somewhat aware of the whole camgirl phenomenon. The closest I’ve come – pun not intended – is likely Twitch. I’m there for the DJs, and while the platform does not permit nudity, there’s an entire category of streams labelled “Pools, Hot Tubs and Beaches.” Yeah. Not hard to work that out. I’ve seen enough stories about the world that the initial set-up here has the ring of authenticity to it. Alice (Brewer) is an up and coming – pun not int… oh, who am I kidding, yes, it was – camgirl known as “Lola”, who is an expert at manipulating visitors to her stream into tipping her. Though she has firm boundaries over what she will do, even as she pursues a top ranking.
Then, one day she finds herself watching herself streaming live. Which is very weird, since she isn’t online. The website company are unhelpful, and Alice finds herself locked out of her own account. The other Lola continues to stream, and the faux version does not have the same limits. While that causes Lola’s popularity to increase, it causes issues as Alice’s career, previously unknown to her mother, becomes a local scandal [Various screenshots indicate events take place here in Phoenix, hence the Arizona films tag. There’s nothing much to indicate it otherwise, save perhaps an amusing scene in the state’s whitest Mexican restaurant] Who’s behind this? Is it a rival camgirl, jealous of Alice’s rapid ascent? An obsessed fanboy, seeking a more pliable version of his object of desire? Or something weirder?
To be honest, the truth is never fully explained: I have my own theories. Yet this is an area where the movie may have aged well. When it came out, things like “deep fakes” were largely theoretical. Now, the technology is available to almost anyone, rendering the scenario creepily plausible. [We’re still a little way from generating video in real tine, that responds interactively. But once we get there… hoo-boy] The film also does a good job of pointing out the potential downside of this career choice, without taking a puritanical stance on the topic. Again: not an area of personal expertise. Yet it feels credible, in its characters and how they behave. Let’s just not get into the account verification process of her hosting provider.
It ends in Alice going head-to-head with Lola on her stream. There is a bit of a trope in this face-off, in the way Alice uses Lola’s own “rules” against her. However, I’m willing to cut the makers slack for this cop-out, since many of the other elements work well. I’m going to become roughly the eight hundredth reviewer to compare to an episode of Black Mirror, in the way it’s a cautionary tale about how technology can be a threat to our humanity, if not humanity in general. It would make for an interesting double-bill of cyber-horror with the rather less subtle Unfriended. I’ll certainly look at that Hot Tubs section on Twitch a little differently in future.